Leesburg's all-stars

Babe Ruth regional baseball

Leesburg falters in final

August 6, 2008|By Joe Williams, Sentinel Staff Writer

LEESBURG -- Leesburg's run through the 13-15-year-old Babe Ruth Southeastern Regional baseball tournament, which included a come-from-behind victory against Greenville, N.C., in the losers bracket final Monday morning, ended Monday afternoon with a 6-3 loss to Tallahassee in the championship game.

Tallahassee, the North Florida state champ, advanced for the second year in a row to the World Series in Van Buren, Ark., next week.

Leesburg, which received a berth in the tournament as its host, advanced further than any Leesburg baseball team ever.. Two Leesburg softball all-star teams have reached the 16-and-under Babe Ruth World Series.

This tournament marked the first time Leesburg has won a game in a baseball regional.

Leesburg battled through the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament at Buddy Lowe Field/Pat Thomas Memorial Stadium. Along the way, Leesburg defeated Sarasota, the South Florida state champ.

The outcome, though disappointing, left Leesburg's fans and its coaching staff filled with pride. Leesburg went 5-2 in the tournament and finished second out of 10 teams.

"This was almost a divine destiny," Leesburg Coach John Blake said. "For a lot of these players, this is our last year together before high school. A lot of these kids have played for me for the last six years, some even more than that. These kids wanted to go out with a bang, and they did."

The number of innings played in five days may have finally caught up with Leesburg against Tallahassee, which rolled through the tournament unbeaten.

Leesburg committed seven errors in the game and gave up an unearned run in the first and fourth innings and two in the sixth.

Dean Myklejord pitched more than six innings.

Leesburg took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on three consecutive hits, including a run-scoring double by Jake Cavender that scored Kyle Teaf and a run-scoring single by Travis Long.

Tallahassee took the lead for good on a two-run double by Jason McAlister in the second inning for a 3-2 edge.

"We were here because we were the hosts, but we ended up sending home several teams," Blake said.

Leesburg reached the finals after scoring five runs in its final two at-bats of Monday morning's losers bracket final against Greenville. Stephen Bordenkircher threw a three-hitter for Leesburg.

Bordenkircher used a sharp breaking curve and spotted his off-speed pitches, keeping Greenville batters off stride.

Until he ran out of steam in the seventh inning, the only runs Bordenkircher allowed were two unearned runs that Greenville scored in the fourth inning. Greg Walters came in with two outs in the seventh and the bases loaded to pick up the save.

Bordenkircher's mound effort followed a great pitching performance by Myklejord in Sunday afternoon's elimination bracket game against Alabama state champion Etowah County. Leesburg won that game 3-1. Myklejord pitched a complete-game four-hitter.

In earlier games in the tournament:

* Bordenkircher threw a complete game in a 7-4 triumph against West North Carolina state champ Union County on Sunday morning. R.J. Peppers had a double and two RBIs, including the game winner in the seventh.

* In a 10-6 victory against Sarasota on Saturday, Long went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, Teaf went 2-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI and Cavender also had two doubles. Trey McKinney also had two hits and three RBIs.